PUTRA HEIGHTS FIRE VICTIM THANKFUL HOME SPARED FROM INFERNO

SUBANG JAYA, April 14 (Bernama) -- "I thought the house had burned down... Alhamdulillah, when we returned from the PPS (temporary relief centre) yesterday, the house was still intact, though the roof was leaking," said Robiah Arbari, 65, a victim of the gas pipeline fire incident in Putra Heights, Subang Jaya on April 1.

Robiah said that although her house was only 200 metres (m) from 'ground zero' of the explosion, her son's quick action in dousing the house with water saved the structure built on land inherited from her late father.

She and four family members relocated to the PPS at Putra Heights Mosque since the incident. However, one of her sons remained at the house to prevent break-ins.

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Recalling the terrifying moments, Robiah said she heard a loud noise, like a plane crashing, before seeing 'fire rising like a mushroom' shooting up into the sky.

"I woke my husband up and told him to run. The fire was so close. I took my grandchildren, aged four and six, through the back route to the river -- and felt the heat like it was burning my face," she told Bernama in Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru today.

Her son, Faridil Attros, 41, who is a lorry driver, said he chose not to move into the PPS to protect his house from intrusion.

"My lorry was badly damaged, I still can't work yet. There are also a lot of belongings, so I can't leave the house," said the man who has a wife and three children to support.

According to him, while running away, his four-year-old son told his (boy's) grandmother he didn't want to die. Those words pierced Faridil's heart.

Meanwhile, Bernama’s survey found that the area around Robiah’s house was still tightly guarded by police, with roadblocks on the route to the ‘ground zero’ location.

In the 8.10 am incident, a fire more than 30 m high with temperatures reaching 1,000 degrees Celsius broke out due to a gas pipeline fire and was only fully extinguished eight hours later.

-- BERNAMA